Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by v-the-valiant
Summary: Basically follows the book up until Godric's Hollow  then Harry is in danger
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: No, I do not own Harry Potter or merchandise etc.

Note to Readers: I have tried to use the exact wording of the book wherever my version of the story coincides with hers.

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"He's in me…inside my head…" Harry moaned. He lifted his hands and started scrabbling, first slowly, then frantically, at his scar.

"Go away…go away…get out of my head…"

Hermione, who had fallen asleep beside Harry's bed, awoke with a jerk. She immediately started patting Harry's hot, sweat-soaked face with a cool, moist towel. "Harry…calm down, it's alright." she whispered worriedly.

"Get out…" Harry whimpered, his hands falling weakly to his side. His eyes flew open, revealing crimson, slit-like eyes and a sudden, high, cold voice emanated from his mouth.

"_Hold him!"_

Hermione jumped back and suppressed a scream at seeing Harry's eyes that were not his own – eyes that she not only recognized, but dreaded and feared. The fear and worry that she had been suppressing up until now fought its way up and filled her chest and throat.

"Harry, it's me…oh, it's me, Harry!" Hermione cried desperately, but Harry's eyes, although wide open, saw nothing of what was before him.

Instead, a scene of a snake and a house blown apart, now covered in snow swam vaguely before his eyes, but he recognized none of it, too caught up in the pain.

"_I want that boy!"_ Harry gasped out, before sinking further back into the bed. Instantly, he began frantically clawing at his scar, drawing blood.

"Harry! _Harry!_" Hermione, thoroughly frightened, struggled to pull Harry's hands away from his face. She desperately looked into Harry's face for any glimmer of himself when Harry's eyes clouded over milky white.

"Leave me alone!" Harry sobbed. He shut his eyes tightly, as if he were fighting something deep inside. A moment later, Hermione felt all resistance from Harry to break free from her grasp seize, but she didn't dare let go as she watched Harry's pained face and bloody forehead.

When his eyes shot open a moment later, they were like a snake's.

"Who…What am I?" Harry whispered, halfway spoken, halfway hissed. Those terrifying eyes that were not Harry's gazed blankly at Hermione.

"You're Harry. Harry Potter." Hermione said.

"Who is that?" Harry hissed.

"My friend. He's kind, sweet, humble, and courageous."

Hermione thought for a second she see a flicker of familiar green in those strange eyes, but before she had time to do anything else, Harry start fighting harder than ever to break free from her grasp. It was all she could do to hold on.

A high, clear voice emanating once again from his lips, "I am the Dark Lord! I am he, and no other!"

"No!" Hermione cried, tears streaming down her face. "You are Harry, son of James and Lily Potter, godson of Sirius Black, friend of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger! You are loved, and the Dark Lord is not! He has no power over you!"

And quite suddenly, she let go of Harry's fighting hands and bent down to give him a hug. As soon as she seized him, all struggles stopped. She held his body cradled that way for a several moments before daring to look into his eyes.

They were green.


	2. Chapter 2

"_I am Harry,"_ He thought uncertainly.He struggled with the concept as he clawed his way back to the surface of consciousness. When he repeated it, the room and Hermione's tear-streaked face swimming before his eyes, it was with conviction.

"Oh, _Harry!"_ Hermione cried, hugging him closer than ever.

As Harry laid limply in Hermione's tight embrace, he felt weaker than he had ever felt before. All he wanted to do was just breathe in Hermione's comforting smell of books and flowers and close his eyes…

And just before he fell asleep, his eyes locked with Hermione's – he opened his mouth to say thank you, but all he managed was a shadow of a smile. He didn't have the strength to do anything else. But Hermione saw that flicker and understood.


	3. Chapter 3

Tears spilled out of her eyes hot and fast – she felt as if all the stress of the past few months had been compacted into this one moment, and she felt as if she was cracking under the pressure. It had been three days since the last time Harry woke up. She had felt certain that she had pulled him back from the brink that time – her heart broke as she recalled Harry, confused and lost, not even knowing who he was. But since then…

Since then he hadn't stirred once. At first she gratefully took this as a sign of improvement; now he was sleeping peacefully. But when the first and second came and went, she was afraid that he would never wake up. Now, it was the end of the third day, and she felt as if she had lost all hope. Not only was Harry's fever still raging, his skin was deathly pale and cold to the touch. Her only comfort was that she could still feel his heart beating feebly when she pressed her hand against the scar on his chest.

She layed her head gently on Harry's side and whispered into his T-shirt, "Oh Ron…I wish you were still here…" Her eyes slid shut, and she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oi, Hermione! Where are you?"

Hermione jumped up and barely bit back her scream in time – she could _not_ reveal her position. Not now, not with Harry like this. But hope blossomed in her heart for the first time in _days_. She grabbed Harry's Invisibility Cloak, threw it over herself, and cautiously peered outside the tent, her wand at the ready.

"Harry! Hermione!"

As soon as she saw that red hair bobbing in the twilight, she threw off the Invisibility Cloak and rushed headlong in Ron's arms.

"Hey, watch it! Hermione…I'm…I'm sorry…I've been a prat…Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron's face was creased with worry when he saw Hermione crying.

"It's…it's Harry." She sobbed.

"Oh no…What's happened? Hermione, where is he? _What happened_?" He panicked as he thought over the horrible possibilities.

"He's sick…"

Ron looked exasperated. "What, Hermione? With the _flu_?"

"No!" She positively glared at him. "It's V–"

"NO!" roared Ron. Hermione stared at him. "Sorry, but the names been jinxed – that's how they track people! Using his name breaks protective enchantments, it causes some kind of magical disturbance – it's how they found us in Tottenham Court Road!"

Hermione shuddered to recall how close she and Harry were to having been caught; for some odd twist of fate, Harry had shouted 'the Dark Lord' instead of 'Voldemort' in his delirium. If he _had_ said Voldemort…

"…Well, it usually doesn't take too long, right? When my dad got hurt, Harry was only sick for about half an hour!"

Hermione had been staring at the ground, not fully paying attention to what Ron was saying. When she looked up mournfully at Ron, he noticed her pale face and the dark purple rings underneath her eyes for the first time.

"It's been four _days_ since he attacked, Ron."

The blood drained from Ron's face.


	5. Chapter 5

Ron rushed into the tent. Harry was just as Hermione left him – pale and lifeless.

"Oh, if only I had studied a little bit more healing!" Hermione sobbed into her hands. Now that there was someone else to take charge, Hermione fell apart.

"Hermione…Hermione…I need you to tell me _exactly _what happened. We can _fix_ this!" Ron looked fiercely at her.

Bolstered by Ron's spirit, she wiped her eyes and recounted the events of the past few days with as much detail as she could remember.

He stared at Harry's still form for a few moments before he turned to Hermione with resolution in his voice, "We're going to have to take him to a Healer."

Hermione looked at him aghast, "We can't! We'll all get caught! Even if we did risk going to such a public place as St. Mungo's, it has surely already been infiltrated by Death Eaters!"

"No – we go to Bill's."

"_What?" _

"From there, we'll contact my mum and Lupin. My mum is a Healer, you know. She figured with all the trouble Fred and George got into, it was cheaper to become a Healer than to pay St. Mungo's. Remember, she mended George's ear in a trice. Lupin will be there in case there's any Dark Arts involved." Ron finished grimly.

Hermione continued to look at him, shell-shocked, as he carefully lifted Harry up from under his arms until he said, "Oi! Take his legs, would you?"

Hermione hastened to take Harry's legs, and between the two of them, they managed to carry him outside the tent, lay him gently on the ground, and cover him with the Invisibility Cloak.

Hermione quickly repacked their belongings and the tent in the beaded bag. By the time she had finished, she turned to face Ron with the determination that had been missing earlier.

"Let's go," Ron nodded vigorously in response.

They both stood next to the seemingly empty patch of ground where Harry's inert body lay.

"Er…maybe… how 'bout you take Harry?" Ron shuffled his feet on the ground.

"Ron, don't be ridiculous, I can't even lift him! I had to levitate him just to get him on the bed!"

"I had… er…a bit of an accident on the way here," he said sheepishly, wiggling his left hand, displaying a couple of missing nails. "I mean, I don't mind losing a fingernail here and there, but I imagine that Harry wouldn't take to it too kindly."

Hermione rolled her eyes, picked Harry up as much as she could, and muttered under her breath as she Apparated, "Splinched himself _again_!"


	6. Chapter 6

Moments later, two figures could be seen making their way up a hill carrying an invisible object between the two of them.

"How much longer, Ron? I can't even _see_ the house!"

"Well, yeah, the Secret-Keeper would have to tell you the location to be able to see it, wouldn't he? It's just on the top of the hill," grumbled Ron, a little breathless from carrying the bulk of Harry's weight.

"I have got to talk to Harry about starting a diet," muttered Ron. "Aha! Here we are!"

Ron supported Harry with one hand while he knocked a code out onto the door. Just moments later, Bill opened the door.

"_Ron_…what are you doing back? Hermione? Where's Harry?" Bill asked, completely flabbergasted by their unexpected appearance on his doorstep.

"Nevermind that, Bill, we've got to get_ inside_." Ron heard a sharp intake of breath as Bill observed them carrying an invisible burden. Bill had guessed where Harry was.

"Bill, we need Mum and Lupin. It's urgent!"

"Already done, Ronald!" said Fleur, emerging from the sitting room. "I saw you two com' up ze hill. Follow me."

She led them into a small bedroom with a fireplace. As they removed the Invisibility Cloak and laid Harry down on the bed, Fleur quietly asked, "What 'appened?"

As Hermione sent a meaningful look at Ron and quickly busied herself with wiping Harry's face with a conjured towel and bowl of water.

"Er…" Ron thought wildly for an answer.

Bill, who had been standing in the doorway, angrily said, "Ron, what the hell's going on? You turn up here, mere days after you left, with Harry looking like this," he gestured towards Harry lying on the bed, "and refuse to tell us anything –"

"You're in the Order, Bill, you know Dumbledore left us a mission. We're not supposed to talk about it to anyone else."

Fleur made an impatient noise, but Bill did not look at her; he was staring at Harry. His deeply scarred face was hard to read. Suddenly they heard banging from downstairs – the same rhythmic code that Ron had used, but ridiculously louder. It sounded like they were trying to break the door down. Everyone whipped out their hands, while Bill peered out the window.

"It's all right. They've arrived." He swept downstairs to open the door.

A little strangled shriek followed by a crash came from the bedside. Ron whipped around, wand at the ready, to find Hermione trembling and ashen down to the lips.

"He's not breathing!" She cried out in a strangled voice.


	7. Chapter 7

"MUM!" Ron bellowed. "MUM!"

Mrs. Weasley burst through the door followed closely by Lupin.

"Oh Harry!" she moaned. She rushed to his side and instantly started muttering enchantments, tears leaking out of her eyes. Lupin, on the other hand, just stood there, with his eyes closed, as if he couldn't stand the sight of Harry, lying there, motionless.

"WELL, DO SOMETHING!" Ron roared. Lupin's eyes snapped open and ripped Harry's shirt, exposing the wound left there by the Horcrux.

"This is the cause of his ailment," Lupin said quietly. "Molly, you would do well to examine if any fragments of this Dark object was left behind in his skin."

Mrs. Weasley nodded curtly and immediately directed her attention to the wound. Lupin then bent down to examine Harry further. As he was examining him, he asked, "What other injuries does he have?"

Hermione's voice trembled as she answered, "A snake bite on his right arm."

Lupin raised his eyebrows at this response and turned to examine the injury. Molly lifted her head up to momentarily examine the bite but said, "That one will wait. This one is the main injury, as you said, Remus. The bite has only aggravated it."

Hermione and Ron stared at Mrs. Weasley as she created a blindingly white light which hovered directly over Harry's wound and then entered into his chest. The two of them could feel a sense of foreboding fill their hearts – they felt as if every second, Harry was drifting farther and farther away…

Suddenly, faint screams broke the tense silence. So faint, in fact, that had it not been silent, it would have been dismissed as the wind. The bright white sphere started to emerge from Harry's chest, and Mrs. Weasley started trembling from the effort of calling it back out. The orb wavered for a few more moments, as if pulling against an irresistible force, when it shot out, unleashing an earsplitting scream. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears, but as soon as the scream had started, it had stopped. Everyone looked up at wonder at the spot where the orb was floating, when a great, rattling gasp broke their reverie.

Harry lay feebly against the bed taking huge gulps of air, white spots dancing before his eyes. As his eyes came back into focus, he saw Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Bill, Fleur, Hermione, and Ron standing around him. Ron – _Ron, why is he here?_ At the moment he just didn't care, so happy he was to see them all. Ron

looked at him straight in the eye and grinned, "Welcome back to the living."


	8. Chapter 8

"Welcome back to the living."

"Er…thanks." Harry responded. His voice cracked from lack of use.

Hermione burst into tears and threw herself on Harry and Mrs. Weasley, already crying, busied herself with helping Harry sit up, fluffing his pillows, and smoothing his covers unnecessarily. Harry was a little bewildered by everyone's presence.

Harry, in an attempt to comfort Hermione, patted her on the back and said quietly, "Shh…Hermione, it's okay…"

Hermione looked up and glared at Harry. "It's _okay? _It's _OKAY_?" Harry, terrified of Hermione's glower and wondering what he could have possibly said wrong, tried to sink further into the bed to escape her look. "Do you know what I've _been _through?" She shrieked. "It's been _four_ _days, _Harry, _four days_ since we left Go–"

Ron cleared his throat loudly and looked Hermione pointedly. Harry, on the other hand, lay gaping at Hermione, silently mouthing the words, "_Four days? Four days?" _

"I will go make some soup, 'arry. Molly, would you pleaz 'elp me? I would love to learn ze recipe you made on Christmas." She looked meaningfully at Mrs. Weasley as she said this.

Mrs. Weasley, standing protectively next to Harry, looked between Harry and Fleur, finally exclaiming, "Oh, all _right!_" and marching out of the room with the bright orb trailing after her.

Bill, refusing to take the hint, stared stoically at Ron until Lupin clapped him on the shoulder and said, "It's really quite fortunate I'm here, Bill. I've been meaning to come for a few days already; I have some information for you from the Order." Bill shot one more menacing look at Ron before following Lupin out of the room.

Ron let out a huge sigh in relief as he watched Bill's ponytail whip out of sight, turned to Harry and asked, "So, how do you feel, mate?"

Harry rubbed his chest gingerly, and grinned. "Like I got stepped on by a troll. How did I get this, anyway?" Harry asked, touching the scabbed-over wound on his chest.

"It was the Horcrux. Apparently it got stuck to your chest and Hermione had to use a Severing Charm to get it off you. The snake bit you too." Ron finished, motioning to Harry's arm. Harry pulled away his sweaty T-shirt and saw the half-healed puncture marks to his forearm.

He turned to ask Hermione for a full account of the past four days, but the words died on his lips as he saw Hermione's stony face with her arms and legs crossed so tightly it seemed unlikely that she would unravel them for several years. Harry turned hastily back to Ron.

"Er…Harry…I'm sorry," Ron started in a thick voice. "I'm sorry I left. I know I was a – a –"

Hermione laughed, a high-pitched, out-of-control sound; Ron looked at Harry for help, but Harry merely grimaced his helplessness.

"Oh, you're _sorry!"_ she said viciously. "You come back after weeks – _weeks_ – and you think it's all going to be all right if you just say _sorry?"_

"Hermione!" said Harry. "Calm –"

"I will not calm down!" she screamed. Never before had he seen her lose control like this; she looked quite demented. "I came running after you! I called you! I _begged _you to come back!Weeks and weeks passed, we could have been _dead_ for all he knew –"

"I –." Ron stopped, lowering his eyes to the ground.

Harry pleaded, "Hermione, will you please –"

Hermione rounded on Harry, "And YOU! Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter! Don't you dare! I watched you, day and night, for _four days!_ I watched you shout and moan and cry out, so delirious, you didn't even know who you were!" Hermione buried her face in her hands, dry, racking sobs coursing through her body. "I thought you were going to _die_…and I sat there…useless…watching you die." Hermione finished so quietly that Harry and Ron barely heard.

Harry and Ron remained silent. Slowly, tentatively, Harry reached out a hand and placed it comfortingly on Hermione's shoulder. He took it as a good sign that she did not throw it off.

The three of them sat there in silence. Finally, Hermione lifted her head up and said, sniffling, "All right, I'm done."


	9. Chapter 9

"So…what _did_ happen for the past four days?" Harry asked, slightly tentative at bringing up the topic again.

Hermione looked at Harry strangely, not sure of what to tell him. He shifted uncomfortably under Hermione's stare. Ron looked uncertainly at Hermione, clearly wanted to keep Harry at least somewhat in the dark of what had happened.

At that moment, a rattling yawn from Harry broke the tension of the moment.

"Oh!" Hermione immediately jumped up. "I can't believe I forgot! Harry, you're _sick_! You need to rest. Ron, help Harry lay back down, I'll go get your mum for a Sleeping Draught."

She quickly fled the room, grateful for the chance, while Ron glared daggers at her back.

"Ron…what went on while I was out of it?" Harry asked, his words slurring from exhaustion, as Ron helped him lie back down.

"Er…how would I know? I wasn't even there." Ron grunted, his ears pink, the tell-tale Weasley sign of lying.

Harry, however, was too far gone to even notice. Within seconds, his chest rose and fell evenly, in his first truly peaceful sleep since Godric's Hollow.


End file.
